


Lost Ray Of Light

by anysin



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, First chapter is pretty worksafe, Ford Pines' Portal Adventures, Mabel Pines Goes Through The Portal, Sharing a Bed, Uncle/Niece Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 07:59:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17484242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anysin/pseuds/anysin
Summary: Ford runs into the grandniece he has never met in an alien world. A Fordbel, heed the warnings.





	Lost Ray Of Light

"Stan! Grunkle Stan!"

The voice calling out for him is young and high, and its humanity alone would have made Ford turn his head. But the words it's saying, _the name_ it's saying- those are making his stomach lurch, even though he knows it may not mean anything. Stan is the common name, and Ford isn't the only human out in the multiverse. This voice could be calling for anyone.

He doesn't have time to think or do much more as a human girl throws herself against him, arms wrapping around his waist so tight that Ford can't help but gag a bit. He looks down at the girl, trying to take in as many details of her in as possible: she looks as young as she sounds, her hair and clothes are a mess, she's crying. She keeps calling him Stan.

"-I'm so glad I found you Grunkle Stan, I'm so glad-"

Those words snap Ford out of his momentary confusion; he grabs the girl from her small shoulders, pushing her off him and waiting until she looks up at him.

"I'm not Stan," he says, simply. When she keeps staring at him with shiny eyes, smiling wide, he repeats himself: "Listen to me! I'm not Stanley Pines."

It still takes her a while to stop smiling, for the relief and joy in her eyes to turn into shock and grief. She starts squirming against his hands, prompting him to let her go, but instead of trying to run, she throws herself against him again, grabbing him from the front of his coat.

"Where is Stan? Where is Soos? Where is Dipper?" Fat, fresh tears begin to roll down her cheeks, her voice rising higher and higher in pitch as she shouts: "You have to help me!"

She seems to reach a threshold; she simply breaks down, collapsing against Ford as she presses her face against his chest as one wretched sob after another wrecks through her body. Ford stands there frozen, clueless about the best choice of action, powerless to move.

Part of him thinks he should run right now.

After hesitating for a moment, he puts his arms around her.

*

By the time Ford has taken her to his hideout of the night, a deserted house in the outskirts of the city they're in, the girl has calmed down. She's still crying and clinging onto him, but she can now speak coherently.

"So, me and my brother went to this town named Gravity Falls for the summer-"

Ford should focus on her and her story alone, but he can't help but feel extremely irritated when he hears about what Stan - truly his Stan - has been up to during these years. So, his brother has stolen his identity! And apparently he's been doing good enough of a job that Shermie's son felt free to send his kids over to him, which strikes Ford as hideously irresponsible. Playing pretend or not, he doubts Stan can pass for someone who is safe to have around children.

"-and we found this thing named the Bottomless Pit-"

Yet, the girl - whose name Ford still doesn't know - speaks of Stan with obvious fondness, and that helps temper Ford's anger a bit. This isn't about him, anyway; this is about the girl. He needs to hear her story so he will know how to help her.

Or, to come up with some kind of a solution for her situation: without the portal, there is no way for her to ever return home.

"So, that's it for me. I found myself here, and nobody else was around. I'm all alone." She takes a deep breath in, letting it slowly out as she looks at Ford. "Now the important question is: who are you?"

"I'm the real Stanford Pines." During his years in the multiverse, Ford has stopped believing in softening truths, so he's not going to start that now. "The man you've spent your summer with is my brother, Stanley."

She surprises him by scoffing at him.

"That's what you say! But maybe it's _you_ who is the Stanley."

It's not easy to stun Ford silent, but now it has happened. The girl stares at him in complete, utter seriousness; she frowns when Ford starts laughing, unable to help himself.

"Maybe," he says in between chuckles. She narrows her eyes at him, but in the end she shrugs, apparently not caring.

"Anyway, so what can I call you? My name is Mabel, by the way."

 _Mabel._ He tastes the name in his mind, liking it.

"You can call me Ford," he says. "Now, I think it's possible that Stan and the others who fell with you are elsewhere in this dimension. I will try to help you to track them down, but I can't promise that we'll find them."

It's a harsh thing to say, and he part expects Mabel to start crying again. However, she only nods, standing up from the floor they've been sitting on.

"I hope we do," she says. "Is there a bathroom around here?"

*

While Mabel is in the bathroom, cleaning her face and hair with a rag and her own fingers, Ford goes over to the old bedroom of the house. The bed is still in good shape and he has been sleeping on it himself, but now he makes sure that it's extra clean from all the dirt, and sets up a simple bedding for himself on the floor. He would like to let her sleep in the room all on her own, but in case there will be intruders or they have to leave quickly, it's better that they are in the same space.

"Here you go," he says to Mabel when she arrives in the bedroom. "It's nothing fancy, but it's warm. You will be comfortable there."

Mabel gives him a skeptical look, but she nods, starting to climb up on the bed. Ford takes his coat off so he will have something to cover himself up with as he starts to lie down on top of his makeshift bedding, onto his side.

He gasps in surprise when something soft and heavy falls on him, followed by a soft thud on the floor near his head.

"I'm not going to sleep here if you're down there," Mabel says. "So get ready!"

"What are you doing?" Flabbergasted, Ford tries to free himself from the covers that have been tossed on them, but Mabel is already down on the floor, lifting Ford's folded-up spare sweater off the bedding as she puts the pillow from the bed in its place.

"Joining you, silly!" She lifts up the covers so she can slide beneath them, pulling them down on top of her and Ford both. "C'mon, it will be nicer for both of us!"

"But-"

"Or then you come up on the bed with me! That is also an option."

Ford doesn't really want to fight the girl; it's been a long day for him and surely an even longer one for her, and they both need rest. "All right then, the bed," he says, and even without looking at Mabel he can tell that she's grinning brightly.

On the bed, he tries to leave a distinct space between his own body and Mabel's, but she's having none of it, wrapping her arms around him and pulling herself against him when he tries to shuffle away from her. "C'mon, it will be nice," she says, burying her face against his chest. "Sharing body warmth is a thing, right?"

There is a moment of silence, during which the embrace of her slim arms seems to tighten more around Ford's torso. When Mabel speaks, her voice is so tiny Ford almost misses it:

"Please don't make me sleep alone."

It's only the first of many times he gives in.


End file.
